1 Kings 14:21

_AND REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON REIGNED IN JUDAH. REHOBOAM WAS FORTY AND ONE YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN, AND HE REIGNED SEVENTEEN YEARS IN JERUSALEM, THE CITY WHICH THE LORD DID CHOOSE OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, TO PUT HIS NAME THERE. AND HIS MOTHER'S NAME WAS NAAMAH AN AMMONITESS._ Reigned in Judah - the southern kingdom. REHOBOAM WAS FORTY AND ONE YEARS OLD - (see the notes at 2 Chronicles 13:7.) Its particular designation as "the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there," seems given here, both as a reflection on the apostasy of the ten tribes, and as a proof of the aggravated wickedness of introducing idolatry its attendant vices there. HIS MOTHER'S NAME WAS NAAMAH AN AMMONITESS, х_ NA`ªMAAH_ (H5279), pleasant; haa-`Amon

21-31 Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the advantages with which their religion was attended, could not prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than the pouring out the Spirit will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. Sin exposes, makes poor, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came and took away the treasures. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass....

On the age of Rehoboam at his accession, see 1 Kings 12:8 note. The 17 years of his reign must have been complete, or a little more than complete, if Abijam ascended the throne in the “eighteenth” year of Jeroboam 1 Kings 15:1....

EXPOSITION THE REIGN OF REHOBOAM.— 1 KINGS 14:21 AND REHOBOAM, THE SON OF SOLOMON, REIGNED IN JUDAH. REHOBOAM WAS FORTY [or twenty. See on 1 Kings 12:1] AND ONE YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN, AND HE REIGNED [this reign is related at greater length in 2 Chronicles 11:1; 2 Chronicles 12:1.] SEVENTEEN YEARS [cf. 1 Kings 15:1] IN Jerusalem, the c

AND REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON REIGNED IN JUDAH,.... Over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when Jeroboam reigned over the other ten: REHOBOAM [WAS] FORTY ONE YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN; being born one year before his father Solomon began to reign, and so it might have been expected he would have begun his reign more wisely than he did: AND HE REIGNED SEVENTEEN YEARS IN JERUSALEM; not half so long as his father and grandfather, being neither so wise nor so good a prince as either of them: THE CITY WHICH THE LORD DID CHOOSE OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, TO PUT HIS NAME THERE; to have a temple built for him, and his worship carried on in it; which was an aggravation of the sin of Rehoboam, that he should reign in such a place, and yet be guilty of the crimes he was; the three first years he reigned well, but afterwards forsook the law of the Lord,...

CHAPTER 14 THE PASSING OF JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM _ 1. Sickness and death of Jeroboam's son (1 Kings 14:1)_ 2. Jeroboam's reign and death (1 Kings 14:19) 3. Rehoboam's apostasy, punishment and death (1 Kings 14:21) We come now to the passing of both kings, Jeroboam of Israel and Rehoboam of Judah. Abijah (Jehovah is my father), the son of wicked Jeroboam, was sick. “That child was the one green spot in Jeroboam's life and home; the one germ of hope. And as his father loved him truly, so all Israel had set their hopes on him. Upon the inner life of this child, its struggles and its victories, lies the veil of Scripture silence; and best that it should be so. But now his pulses were b

REIGN OF REHOBOAM. The formula in 1 Kings 14:21 is regularly employed in Kings. The LXX make his age sixteen, and gives him twelve years. The name of the king's mother is given, since she, and not the wife, was the chief lady of the court. The title she bore was not _queen,_ but _lady (gebhirah,_ 1 Kings 15:13). Being an Ammonitess, Naamah would naturally have encouraged her son in idolatry. But in 1 Kings 14:23, whereas it is usual in Kings to give the verdict on the king he did good, he did evil, in this case Judah is blamed; the LXX, however, says Rehoboam did evil, etc. The sins of Judah are enumerated as building high places, setting up pillars (_maçç eboth),_ and Asherim (A.V. groves) on every hi

MOTHER'S NAME. Mentioned here and in the case of each successive king (Compare 1 Kings 15:10; 1 Kings 22:42; 2 Kings 8:26, &c.); because the king's character stands connected with the _mother_. and because of the position which the queen dowager occupied (Compare 1 Kings 2:19; 1 Kings 15:13.Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 13:18). AMMONITESS. Twice mentioned,

The sinful reign of Rehoboam in Judah (2 Chronicles 12:13) 21. _Rehoboam_was _forty and one years old_ As Solomon's reign lasted forty years (1 Kings 11:42), this son must have been born a year or more before his father came to the throne, and Solomon must have married this Ammonitish wife, Naamah, before Pharaoh's daughter. The age of Rehoboam makes it strange that he should have been led by the counsels of young men rather than the elders, as we read in chap. 12, and appears to contradict the words of 2 Chronicles 13:7, where Rehoboam is described as -young and tender-hearted" and not able to withstand the rebellion of Jeroboam. Hence the reading of a few MSS. in this passage, of 21

I. THE FIRST THREE KINGS OF JUDAH 14:21-15:24 (931-870 B.C.) The first three kings of Judah ruled for sixty-one years. In this section the author speaks of (1) the apostasy of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21-31); (2) the hypocrisy of Abijam (1 Kings 15:1-8); and (3) the reformation of Asa (1 Kings 15:9-24) A. THE APOSTASY OF REHOBOAM 14:21-31 In dealing with the unfaithfulness of Judah under Rehoboam, the historian first describes (1) the extent of the apostasy (1 Kings 14:21-24), and then (2) the punishment of the apostasy. The chapter closes with (3) a brief summary note about Rehoboam ...